The word: Leno
sews up 'Tonight' return
Other shorts: Extra, extra: E&P revived with a new editor
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jan 15, 2010
The word: Leno reaches deal for 'Tonight' return
Just about everyone is choosing sides in NBC's Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien debacle. O'Brien has the support of fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman, and he seems to have public sympathy as well. But Leno may have the support of the people who really matter: the NBC executives. Word came yesterday that Leno has reached an agreement to return as host of "The Tonight Show," while O'Brien's contract will be bought out. His final show will be Jan. 22. Negotiations between NBC and Team Conan, as it's been dubbed, have been bitter; O'Brien even alluded to a rumor on last night's "Tonight" that the network has threatened to keep him off the air for three years. (Zinged the host, "My response to that is, if NBC doesn’t want people to see me, just leave me on NBC.") Meanwhile, NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who has consulted on some late-night decisions, went on the attack in a move widely seen as defense of his pal Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBCU. He told the New York Times yesterday, "What this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan ... [it is] chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy [Leno] you couldn’t beat in the ratings." Still, O'Brien has been widely perceived as the victim in this drama. A TVGuide.com poll found that 83 percent want Conan to stay at 11:35 p.m., though that's likely skewed by responses from TV fanatics. Another poll, from Rasmussen, found that roughly a third believe that O'Brien has been treated unfairly. O'Brien is running 2-0 over Leno in another category: fellow late-night hosts. Letterman's bitterness toward Leno is well documented, through the so-called late-night wars of more than a decade ago, and it has resurfaced in his monologues in recent days. Now Kimmel seems to have joined Team Conan as well. He appeared on Leno's show last night after doing his entire Tuesday show dressed as Leno. While Leno was generally affable, Kimmel gutted him. "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children—all you have to take care of is cars. I mean, we have lives to lead here. You've got $800 million, for God's sakes—leave our shows alone."
Extra, extra: E&P revived with a new editor
Editor & Publisher is back, though not entirely intact. The trade bible of the newspaper industry, which Nielsen shut down last month, has been saved by a new owner, Duncan McIntosh, a California-based publisher that puts out Boating World. But the revival came with a price. E&P's editorial staff has been slashed to four, with casualties including editor/chief E&P booster Greg Mitchell and Joe Strupp, a longtime senior editor. Editor at large Mark Fitzgerald will take over as editor. Since Nielsen pulled the plug at the end of last month, E&P staffers have been publishing a blog called E&P In Exile, but yesterday the original E&P site went back online. There had been rumors that a buyer would step forward, mirroring what happened with Nielsen's Kirkus Review, which the company said it would close along with E&P. Last week a buyer emerged for Kirkus. Nielsen decided to shutter the two publications after selling several of its other trade titles, including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. The demise of E&P coincided with the withering of the newspaper business itself, which is suffering deep circulation and advertising declines.
Programming notes: CBS picks up 'Wife' and 'NCIS: LA'
LL Cool J and Julianna Margulies are a part of CBS’s plans for next season. The network has give second-season orders to the first-year shows “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “The Good Wife,” which star LL Cool J and Margulies, respectively. “NCIS: LA” is averaging a 3.8 rating among viewers 18-49 this season, while “Good Wife” has averaged a 3.0. Meanwhile, in other programming, TNT has ordered a 10-episode second season of “Men of a Certain Age,” after the first five episodes of the Ray Romano drama averaged 4.4 million total viewers. E! has ordered eight episodes of “Holly’s World,” a reality series that will follow former “Girls Next Door” star and Playboy model Holly Madison. Discovery and Hasbro have finally given their upcoming kids’ network a name, dubbing it The Hub. The network will replace Discovery Kids in the fall and include shows based on Hasbro’s Transformers, My Little Pony and G.I. Joe franchises. Discovery was busy at yesterday's Television Critics Association tour, making a host of other announcements. On March 21 Discovery will premiere “Life,” a documentary series about all things living narrated by Oprah Winfrey. The network also said it has ordered “Worst Case Scenario,” a six-episode series in which Bear Gryllis puts himself in life-endangering situations, although no launch date has been set. TLC in March will roll out “Addicted,” a reality series that shows how addiction affects people and their families. And Animal Planet has laid out plans for three of its shows: “River Monsters” will premiere April 18 at 10 p.m., “Last Chance Highway” will debut this summer, and “Pit Bulls and Parolees” will launch in the fall.
Most of ABC's NASCAR coverage zooms to ESPN
If driver Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship next season, he’ll do so in front of mostly cable audiences. ESPN will broadcast 14 NASCAR races next season, up from just six last season, while broadcast sibling ABC will cut its coverage from 11 to just three races in 2010. Under the new alignment, ESPN will air nine of the 10 races that make up the season-ending Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, a playoff-style points system used since 2004. ABC’s races will air on Aug. 21, Sept. 11 and Oct. 16; those races, combined with 12 college football games and the Aug. 28 Little League World Series U.S. title game, will give ABC a live sporting event on Saturday night in primetime for 16 straight weeks. ESPN and ABC will air the final 17 races of the season, with Fox airing the first 13 and TNT airing the middle six. The first race of the season, the Daytona 500, will run on Feb. 14.
Viewers: CBS is must-keep network
The most-watched TV network this season is CBS, and it’s also viewers’ new top must-keep TV brand, according to a survey from Solutions Research Group. The study found that 49 percent of respondents identified CBS as a must-keep TV brand, edging out ABC, which was identified as such by 48 percent. That gives CBS the top rank ahead of ABC, which had held the top spot the previous two years. Those two were followed by Fox (44 percent), NBC (42 percent) and ESPN, which finished as the top cable network. Discovery Channel, Food Network, USA, HBO and History Channel rounded out the top 10. Food Network and USA each moved up three spots from last year, Food from No. 10 to No. 7 and USA from No. 11 to No. 8, while Syfy and History each fell three notches, Syfy from No. 8 to No. 11 and History from No. 7 to No. 10. CNN saw the biggest drop of any network, falling from No. 14 to No. 29. The top kids’ brands, according to mothers of children 12 and under, were Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family and Cartoon Network.
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